Learning from the Latest Generation of Online Games? - Andy Fawkes - ITEC Stockholm - ITEC 2019

ITEC Stockholm
   14 May 2019

Learning from the
Latest Generation
of Online Games?

     Andy Fawkes

Disruption
    “If you want
something new, you
 have to stop doing
  something old”

    Peter Drucker
      1909-2005

Overview
• Some Current Online Gaming Developments:
  –   Fortnite
  –   Apex Legends
  –   Rec Room
  –   Cross Platform Play
  –   Smart Game Objects
  –   Google Stadia
  –   Other Technology Drivers

• So What for the Training & Simulation Community?

Fortnite

Fortnite Battle Royale

Fortnite Battle Royale (Released Mar 17)
• As of March 2019: >250 million players and ≦10.8 million concurrents

• The goal is to be the last player alive out of 100 within a game area that
  decreases in size over time

• Objects in the game can be harvested for materials to build walls and
  ramps for protection, to help move, or slow down other players

• Free-to-Play but players have the option to purchase cosmetic skins,
  dances, and pre-released game modes for their characters.

• Average spend $84.67 each player with game revenues >$1 Billion

• Game constantly refreshed through “Seasons” (now Season 9)

Fortnite Hosting
•   Epic Games exploits Amazon Web Services (AWS)
•   Fortnite servers around the world to reduce latency
•   Each month Epic collects two petabytes of data
•   From 0 to 250 Million Players in 24 Months

Fortnite Cross-
       Platform Play

•   Across PC, PS4, Xbox One, Switch, Mac & mobile
•   All platforms require an Epic Games account
•   Becoming friends through Epic enables cross-platform play
•   Progress and purchased content travels with Epic account
•   Party Finder searches for Epic Games friends across platforms

Fortnite’s DJ Marshmello Concert – 2 Feb 2019

   10.7m Online Players Watched Live Concert

User Generated Video
• Over 26M videos referencing
  Fortnite were published across
  YouTube, Twitch, Instagram,
  Twitter, and Facebook, and
  viewed over 89bn times in 2018

• The second most popular
  livestream game Minecraft,
  generated 4.7M videos with
  35.8B views
                    Tubular Labs

Fortnite Battle Royale - eSports

• The global eSports
  industry is $905m
  (2018/Newzoo)

• Top Fortnite player
  “Bizzle” - Earnings $322k
  (Oct 18)

• On 14 Mar 18, a game of
  Fortnite pulled in 630,000
  concurrent viewers on
  Twitch TV

Fortnite Generations

                                                        39% of Dads & 18% Mums Play
www.commonsensemedia.org/fortnite-frenzy-key-findings

New Media
Dynamics

People do Play a Lot

Fortnite Battle Royale - Addictive?
  Random Rewards
  •   Random “loot” or “variable-ratio schedule”, like a slot machine
  •   The hope of finding something desirable paired with occasional reward is
      exciting
  •   The gap between high- and low-skill players is also reduced making the game
      less punishing and more difficult to dominate

  Finding Order in Chaos
  •   The instinctive need to find order in chaos
  •   Players must build a mental model of the game’s mechanics building their
      intuitive judgement
  •   If their intuition leads to success this is pleasurable whilst unexpected failure
      leads to a need to learn and play more

  Social Status
  •   The need to signal social status
  •   Impressing other players through “skins” or visual customisations of player’s
      avatars or weapons, that are also restricted to “Seasons”, signalling success,
      much like in Fashion

Games as Social Networks

Apex Legends

Apex Legends (Team-Based Battle Royale)
•   Released 4 February 2019, Free-to-Play
•   50 Million Players Joined in One Month
•   Earning $92 million in revenue across all platforms
•   A novel ping system allows teammates to mark supplies,
    locations, and enemies

Apex Legends

• Google Cloud Based
• With no pre-launch
  marketing it reaches:
  – 1m Players in 8 Hours
  – 10m in 3 Days
  – 50m in 1 Month

Rec Room

Rec Room
• VR-Based social spaces and multiplayer games, including first-
  person shooters & cooperative role-playing games
• Provides in-game tools for user-generated maps and games
• Cross-Platform

Cross-Platform Play

What is Cross-Platform Play?
• An online video game that allows
  players using different game hardware
  such as Consoles, PCs, Mobiles etc to
  play with each other simultaneously

• Cross-Platform games generally use
  standard TCP/IP-based communications
  between players' clients, or between a
  client and a game server, compensating
  for the differences between hardware
  platforms

• The term is related to but distinct from cross-
  platform development, which uses software
  languages and tools to enable deployment of
  software on multiple platforms

A Little History
• 2002
  – PlayStation 2 & PC cross-platform play enabled for Final Fantasy 11
• 2012
  – PS3 and PS Vita support cross-platform play
• 2016
  – Microsoft announce cross-network play for Xbox One & Windows 10
• 2018
  – Sony announce cross-platform beyond Sony ecosystem (Fortnite)
• 2019
  – >200 games support cross-platform play

Why Cross-Platform Play?
• Game Developers
 – Can keep game's player base large over a period
   of time providing ongoing sources of income

• Console Providers
 – Increases attractiveness of console

• Gamers
 – Can more easily play with friends and increases
   usefulness of console/PC

Cross-Platform Play Challenges
• Gameplay
 – Fair Fight

• Technical
 – Matchmaking
 – Security

• Business
 – Strategic Planning

Epic Games SDK “Any engine. Any store. Any platform.”
   Towards a unified, cross-platform social experience - 2019

   •   Game analytics
   •   Ticketing system
   •   Player reports
   •   Player data storage
   •   Achievements, leaderboards & stats
   •   Communications
   •   Parties
   •   Common Overlay
   •   Matchmaking
   •   Player identity
   •   Player inventory

Smart Game Objects

Smart Game Objects
• For any object in a game, its data is stored and read off a blockchain
• Users own and can change an object’s attributes through winning
  challenges, purchases, modifications etc
• The data is stored externally to the game and can be owned (or sold)
  long term and potentially passed across games

        Smart Contract on Ethereum    Same Colour Green Appears in Game D-PARC

Google Stadia

Google Stadia
• Platform-Agnostic Cloud Gaming Service Launching Late 2019
• Streaming Games at up to 4K resolution/HDR at 60FPS
• “State Share" Integration with YouTube allows Viewers to Launch a Game
  using the Same Save State as the Streamer

                                      Stadia GDC 2019 Gaming Announcement

Related Technologies

Other Technology Drivers
AI
• Already closely linked to Gaming
• Game levels that Automatically Change to fit the Skill
   level of the Player
• Better Codify Human Attributes of Vision, Speech, &
   Sentiment leading to new forms of Interaction
• More Cost Effective, Faster Game Design &
   Production
• Improved AI-Driven Characters & Effects
• Improved Player Analytics
5G
• More Mobility, Less Reliance on Fixed Infrastructure
• Greater Exploitation of the Cloud
• Enhanced Capability for VR/AR, Reducing Local
  Headset/Processor Burden

So What for the
Training and Simulation
      Community?

New Priorities?
• Simulation as the Core of a Training Ecosystem
  –   Sharing & Discovery
  –   Matchmaking & Social
  –   At the Point of Need Across Hardware & Geographically
  –   Consistent User Interfaces Across Training Systems
• Drive Towards Cloud/Hybrid Cloud
• Exploit Data, Analytics & AI across the Enterprise
• New Methods of Communication to Enhance Human
  Interoperability (& perhaps with Autonomous Systems)
• Track Cultural and Recruitment Implications
• Learn how Technology & Convergence in Gaming are Forcing
  Innovation & Industry Competitiveness, to Influence your
  Requirements

Disruption

What is the Training &
Simulation Community
Going to Stop Doing to
  Exploit the Latest
   Gaming Trends?